Beastly Bangalore?

Bangalore is one of the best cities of our country. Job opportunities are aplenty. Climate is the envy of any other big cities. With all the roads chock a block with traffic almost round the clock there’s hardly any dull moment. Every other day international rock stars grace the city with their presence and the Bangaloreans dance away the night listening to their mesmerising numbers. On Saturday evenings when you observe the fellow commuters on the roads, what stands out is the fact people are here to eat, drink and be merry following the busy week that has just ended.

Due to many reasons Bangalore is on a fast track of growth. But one look at the headlines of newspapers and any Bangalore lover will tell you that all is not well with Namma Bangaluru. Somewhere something is amiss. I am not talking about the rising mercury that has been tormenting hapless Bangaloreans for the past few weeks. But it has got to do something with the strong character of the city that we all boasted of once upon a time.

A young girl’s life went topsy-turvy on the night of Christmas. She was returning home with her boy-friend on a two-wheeler when some miscreants stopped them and made life hell for the young couple.

There was hardly any outcry on the streets of Bangalore. Nobody reacted. Life went on as if nothing had happened. Does this city deserve to be called humane anymore?

Then came the news of some girls from a foreign country attacked in a posh bar and getting critically hurt. Nobody flinched a muscle nor moved an inch. People pretended as if everything was hunky dory. After a few days the story died a natural death.

A few days ago the media itself was under attack from lawyers and advocates. Police did nothing to prevent the attack and allowed the lawyers to take the law into their hands as the whole city came to standstill with the image of Namma Bangaluru taking a severe beating world-wide.

Nobody raised the voice. Where’s the intelligentsia? What’s it scared of? Why such a pin-drop silence? Why on earth nobody is crying foul? How far do we want things further deteriorated?

The aging regional satraps from national political parties hold the city to ransom. Reason? They were knee-deep into corruption. The high-command decided to salvage the image by cleaning up the party. Some heads rolled. But as the luck would have it, the Court has squashed these corruption charges and now the rolled heads are demanding the crown back. And to get it back they are ready to go to any length.

In all this hurly-burly of political one-up-manship the city of Bangalore is the sufferer. Traffic piles up as all the roads either lead to Vidhan Soudha or to the house of that ousted king who ruled his kingdom not so long ago with impunity.

When we are talking about our rulers, let me also add fuel to the fire by mentioning the episode of Porngate that shocked the entire country leave alone Bangalore. How could something as obscene as watching the porn in the House of Assembly have happened in such a well-educated and cultured state is beyond anybody’s guess?

But alas there’s not even a murmur to be heard against all the atrocities being committed in the name of democracy and right in the temple of democracy. What has the city come to? Where are the morals? Where are the values? Who will speak up before it’s too late? Any saner voices?

The icing on the cake is yet to come. As if all this is not enough, a week ago something more sinister and mind numbing took place. An SUV ran over four construction workers sleeping on the pavement in Banasvadi, killing one of them on the spot. A woman was allegedly behind the wheels. She was returning from a party and was allegedly drunk. Nobody is shocked to know that police is yet to nab her. She has been absconding for past one week.

The young man who died in the accident on the spot was a poor migrant. What makes this accident more tragic is the fact he had become father days before he perished.

The story is more or less the same. The city continues to absorb everything quietly. No candle light vigils for this poor victim. No tough questions to the police. It is as if nobody is in charge of this city. The incidences of crime are rising. Police is yet to declare any effective measures to curb this menace. If the custodians of law and order cannot inspire faith and confidence, who else can?

Is Namma Bangaluru really losing its character? Will it bounce back? Will somebody come forward to take the bull by its horns? Or we are witnessing a slow death of the city that the world knows as the IT hub and we call it the garden city of the dreams where “svalpa adjust maadi” is the mantra of survival and where the hot kappi from the neighbourhood Sukh Sagar or Shanthi Sagar waits for every soul who loves this city.